Financial Aid
The availability of aid to master’s degree candidates varies widely, with many programs offering some partial- to full-tuition merit awards, a few offering need‐based aid, and some programs offering little or no institutional aid.
PhD students receive competitive funding packages, which cover tuition and student health insurance, as well as a stipend for living expenses and research support. Students must be legally authorized to work in the United States for the University of Chicago in order to meet the degree requirements to earn a PhD. (Note, the F-1/J-1 student visa permits on-campus employment when a student is active in their program; for more information, please visit the Office of International Affairs webpage related to on-campus employment.) Applicants are encouraged to review applicable program requirements.
The goal of the University’s commitment to ensuring that students are supported is to allow students to prioritize their studies and prepare for rewarding careers. We expect students to remain in good academic standing and to be making progress toward completing degree requirements.
Additional fellowships and awards are available to support language study, conference travel, and research travel.
Primary Annualized Stipends
PhD students’ divisional stipends disburse on a monthly basis.
If a MA/MFA student has a stipend, they disburse in lump sums at various times throughout the year, depending on when the stipend is awarded.
All students should sign up for Direct Deposit in Workday. Students who have not signed up for direct deposit must ensure their mailing address in Workday and my.uchicago.edu is accurate to avoid delays in receipt, as their stipend will be issued as a check and sent via mail.
Stipend Taxes
Domestic Students: Fellowship stipends for domestic students are not subject to tax withholding by the university. For these students, fellowship stipends are self-reported taxable income and no W-2 Form is issued to the student. Students who do not have taxes withheld from fellowship stipend income may have a quarterly estimated tax obligation – more information is available from UChicagoGRAD.
International students: Fellowship stipends issued to international students may be subject to federal tax withholding (currently at a rate of 14%) if the student is a non-resident for tax purposes. Stipends disbursed to non-residents for tax purposes are reported as earnings on Form 1042-S, which students should expect to receive by U.S. mail in early April. Students are required to fill out tax forms and provide appropriate visa documentation to the Dean of Students office. This tax paperwork is used by the University's Payroll office to determine a student’s residency and confirm whether a student has an applicable tax treaty benefit, which may reduce some tax withholding. When a student is considered a resident for tax purposes, fellowship stipend income is no longer subject to federal tax withholding. International students may have a quarterly estimated tax obligation depending on the rate of withholding – more information is available from UChicagoGRAD.
International students should check with the Office of International Affairs about tax software and workshops to assist them with filing U.S. federal income tax returns, as the University does not have a tax adviser to assist students with the tax filing process.
All students living abroad and receiving primary funding are required to inform the Dean of Students office in advance so that necessary adjustments to tax withholdings can be made before the stipend is issued.
UChicagoGRAD offers recorded informational sessions on taxes for domestic and international students and maintains a website with helpful financial management information.
Pedagogical Training Assignment Taxes
In quarters during which a student is holding a Pedagogical Training Assignment, primary funding for the full quarter is subject to federal and state tax withholding by the university regardless of a student’s tax-residency. Students who hold a Pedagogical Training Assignment in a given year will receive a W-2 from the University for those quarters in which the position was held. Students can contact gradhelp@uchicago.edu if they have any questions related to funding, payments, or taxes.
The Office of the Bursar publishes current tuition rates and the Student Manual of University Policies and Regulations details doctoral students' registration policies.
Master's Students
Tuition for MA and MFA students is assessed by the Office of the Bursar according to the number of units for which a student is registered in a given quarter, typically 300 units. In accordance with the admissions offer, Master's students may receive a certain amount of tuition aid from the Division of the Arts & Humanities.
Doctoral Students
Tuition for doctoral students is assessed by the Office of the Bursar and in accordance with the admissions offer. Doctoral students receive full tuition aid from the Division of the Arts & Humanities for all years of registration.
The Office of the Bursar publishes a list of current fee rates.
Mandatory Quarterly Fees
Student Services Fee
The Student Services Fee helps cover the expenses associated with providing student services, which include student health, student counseling, student disability services, immigration and visa services, dean-on-call and sexual assault dean-on-call programs, emergency funding programs, disciplinary affairs, Ratner and other recreational facilities, Graduate Council and Student Government, and spiritual life. Additionally, the fee subsidizes the cost of operating campus shuttles and makes an annual allocation to the offices of the deans of students in the graduate divisions and professional schools. The Student Services Fee is distinct from the University Student Health Insurance Plan (U-SHIP), which is an elective health insurance plan available to students (mandatory enrollment for PhD students).
The Division of the Arts & Humanities covers the Student Services Fee for PhD students during quarters of enrollment beginning in Autumn 2022. MA/MFA Students are assessed this fee for each quarter they are enrolled on campus unless they are in a bargaining position under the CBA.
All students can elect to waive the Student Services Fee in cases where the student lives and/or studies over 50 miles from campus, and who will not be on campus during that quarter. These waivers are administered by Office of the Bursar. Students need to request this waiver via the my.uchicago portal on a quarterly basis in order to waive the quarterly fees.
Lifetime Transcript Fee
All entering students pay a one-time Lifetime Transcript Fee. There is no waiver for this fee.
Registration Fees
Information can be found on the Office of the Registrar's website.
Late Payment Fees
The Office of the Bursar assesses late payment fees when a balance due is not received by the deadline indicated on a bill.
- Failure to receive a bill is not grounds to petition for a late payment fee waiver—students can access their bursar accounts through my.uchicago.edu. Students may also ask the Dean of Students office to access their most recent bill.
- Failure to pay a bill while waiting for a financial aid adjustment (mandatory fee waiver, insurance waiver, tuition aid for teaching, etc.) is not grounds to petition for a late payment fee waiver. Students who are unsure what they actually owe should contact the Arts & Humanities Dean of Students office at ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
Visit UChicago Student Wellness for complete information on student health care services, immunization requirements, and student insurance (U-SHIP). Review University policy regarding insurance in the Student Manual. Required immunizations can be found here.
U-SHIP is a platinum-rated plan by the Affordable Care Act, and it is a plan with extensive benefits, a nationwide network of providers, international coverage, access to telemedicine, and a low annual deductible and out-of-pocket maximums. Because U-SHIP enrollment will be required for all enrolled PhD students and supported by institutional or grant funds, as allowed, doctoral students will not be eligible to waive U-SHIP with comparable coverage.
Division of the Arts & Humanities fellowships, which include student health insurance aid, provide coverage on U-SHIP for doctoral students. Students who elect other additional coverage (i.e., dependent, dental, vision) will be responsible for those costs.
All registered students must carry quality health insurance. For MA/MFA students, if you are considering waiving U-SHIP coverage, see the Comparable Coverage Checklist to review the benefits that all plans must provide to meet University requirements. Additionally, if you reside in Chicago during the academic year, your insurance must cover medical care provided in the Chicago area for both emergency and non-emergency medical situations.
Internal Fellowships
Division of the Arts & Humanities Fellowship Deadlines for 2027-2028 awards.
Arts & Humanities Division Dissertation Completion Fellowships
Nomination deadline - TBD (updated during Autumn 2026)
Dissertation Research Travel Awards
Application deadline - TBD (updated during Autumn 2026)
*These competitions require nomination by the student's department. Departments set earlier internal application deadlines for students, so they can review and nominate to the fellowship review committee by TBD. Please check with your department for more information.
Arts & Humanities Division Dissertation Completion Fellowships
The Division of the Arts & Humanities is able to award approximately 24 Dissertation Completion Fellowships, including the Franke Residential DCF and the Hanna Holborn Gray DCF, to doctoral students who are sufficiently advanced in the writing of their dissertation that they are expected to complete the dissertation during the time they hold the award. These fellowships recognize the student’s academic achievements, and enable the student to devote full attention and effort towards completing the dissertation.
Fellowships will provide tuition, the required student services fee, University student health insurance, and a stipend. Fellowships will also include a financial bonus. Fellows may undertake a modest teaching assignment per the student teaching policy, and when it is clear from the fellow’s progress on the dissertation that teaching will not delay completion of the degree (note UC Mellon DCFs are exempt for this - they prohibit any remunerative activity). Requests to undertake a teaching assignment must be made in writing to the Dean of Students, and are subject to departmental approval.
Eligibility for 2026-2027 Dissertation Completion Fellowships:
Some fellowships may only be held by students up to and including the sixth year in their program; others may only be held by students up to and including the seventh year; the few other fellowships may be held by students up to and including the eighth year of their program. If there are questions about your registration year, please contact ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
The following terms and conditions apply for all dissertation completion fellowships:
- Without exception, students must be admitted to candidacy before they can apply for these fellowships.
- Students who have held or currently hold any dissertation completion fellowship (whatever the title of the fellowship: dissertation write-up, completion, etc.) from any internal or external sources are not eligible for consideration.
- Students pursuing a joint degree program should submit the DCF application through their home department only.
- Students must defend, complete the dissertation, and graduate in Summer 2027 or before. If this does not occur, the student will be withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2027 quarter.
Please Note: Students who hold a Dissertation Completion Fellowship in 2026-2027 must graduate by or before Summer 2027. Students who do not defend, complete the dissertation, and graduate during the fellowship year will be withdrawn from their program at the end of the Summer 2027 quarter.
Departmental Application Deadlines
A student’s home department must nominate them for this competition. Students must adhere to their departmental deadlines for application submission.
Application Materials
Each student must complete the online application, which includes submitting the following documents:
- The timeline for completion of dissertation writing and defense, with the student and the dissertation committee attesting to the feasibility of granting of the degree by Summer 2027.
- Statement of purpose (3-5 pages single-spaced), describing the dissertation project. The narrative statement should include a work plan. The statement should discuss the significance of this work within the student’s specific and general fields and the contribution this project will make to the field(s) with which it engages. Please remember that the fellowship review committee will include faculty members from across the Division and thus the candidate must explain terms and contexts that might not be familiar to those outside the field or subfield.
- A curriculum vitae (C.V.).
- A copy of one approved chapter of the nominee's dissertation for reference by the fellowship review committee.
- Letter from the student's dissertation committee chair/advisor, attesting to the quality of work and also the ability of the student to complete and defend the dissertation in the Summer 2027 quarter or before. Applicants must enter their recommender's name and email address in the application and the recommender uploads their letter directly in the system.
Department chairs who are nominating students for DCFs, will provide a brief summary of the nominated students as well as a ranked order of the nominees. This should be emailed to ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
The deadline for departments to submit their nominations is early April. Students can expect to be notified in early to mid-May of the final decision.
External Fellowships
The Division of the Arts & Humanities considers support of our doctoral students essential to the success and timely completion of the degree. External fellowship awards help students with financial support, develop grant-writing skills, and enhance their curriculum vitae for the subsequent job search. External awards, sponsored by either a public or private agency in a national competition, confer distinction on the student.
We encourage doctoral students to apply for external funding. Students who receive a competitively awarded external fellowship should contact the Dean of Students office at ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
UChicagoGRAD offers advising on the fellowship search process. UChicagoGRAD advisors can help students identify fellowships for which they are eligible and help with the administrative aspects of applying for fellowships. UChicagoGRAD maintains a fellowship database as well as a list of UChicagoGRAD Managed Fellowships.
The Assistant Dean of Students, Student Financials and Registration will meet with students to determine the benefits of each option and consider the following factors: academic progress, teaching obligations, and financial implications.
Students who matriculated after Summer 2016 and who receive an external fellowship will receive a top-up to the minimum stipend should the external fellowship amount be below the minimum stipend + a bonus for receiving an external fellowship (note bonus is 30% of the minimum annual stipend). If the external fellowship award is below the bonus amount, the student just receives the external fellowship and receives a full stipend. If the external fellowship is above the minimum stipend amount, the student just receives the bonus. The Assistant Dean of Students, Student Financials and Registration will discuss top-up and bonus options with all students once notified about an external fellowship award.
*Students who fail to report any outside funding are subject to the University's area disciplinary system.
Center and Departmental Fellowships and Grants
Numerous departments and centers on campus offer fellowships and grants for students connected with their specific areas. These can range from small grants to dissertation-year fellowships. Information, including eligibility requirements and application instructions, may be found on their websites. Departments and centers offering support for which Arts & Humanities students may be eligible include the following:
Center for the Art of East Asia
Center for Latin American Studies
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
Arts & Humanities Division Dissertation Research Travel Grants for 2027-2028
Application deadline: Spring Quarter TBD
The Arts & Humanities Division provides limited funding for students who plan to travel to conduct dissertation research. A student may only receive a Dissertation Research Travel Grant once in their graduate career and the grants are not renewable.
The funding for these grants comes from several endowments, some which have no limitations regarding student department, area of research, or location, and others, such as the ones below, have a more specific focus:
- Arnaldo Momigliano Dissertation Research Travel Award provides dissertation research travel awards for students in Classics, Philosophy, and MES
- Biamonte Fellowship Fund provides students with support to study various forms of art (visual, musical, theatrical) in Italy.
- Robert Christy Fellowship Fund provides support for research projects and travel grants to graduate students studying East Asian Art. Students are not required to be ABD to receive the fellowship and may be in the pre-dissertation writing stage.
Funding from these grants is extremely limited. Students may receive up to $5,000. Students should first apply for travel grants from departments and centers (e.g., UChicago Global Travel Grant, Nicholson, France Chicago, CEAS, CAEA, COSAS) before requesting these funds.
Dissertation Research Travel Grant Parameters:
- Applicants will be awarded funds based on their specific travel and financial needs, the quality and feasibility of their projects, in addition to other academic qualifications.
- If a student's research needs can be met in Regenstein Library, funding from these grants will not be possible.
- Students who have previously done research at the location for which they are applying must explain why a return trip is necessary to complete their research, and they must ask their recommender to comment on their explanation.
- These grants are not intended for pre-dissertation survey trips*
- Students will not be awarded travel grants who are traveling to Level 4 countries per the State Department travel advisory, and Level 3 countries will be evaluated on an individual basis.
*Note the Robert Christy Research Fellowship is open to pre-dissertation trips for those students studying East Asian Art.
Eligibility Requirements for Grant Holders in 2026-2027:
- Begin research at location no earlier than the start of Summer Quarter 2026;
- Complete research at location no later than end of Spring Quarter 2027;
- Admission to candidacy before disbursement of the award.*
*Note the Robert Christy Research Fellowship fund does not require students to be ABD, but only students who are conducting dissertation research related travel or projects in the field of East Asian Art are eligible.
Application Requirements:
- A completed application form. A statement of intent, CV, itinerary, and budget should all be uploaded to the form as attachments;
- One letter of recommendation, which should be from the chair of the student's dissertation committee, emailed to Sarah Hill, Assistant Dean of Students, at shill26@uchicago.edu;
- Transcripts will be provided by the Dean of Students office.
The selection committee reserves the right not to consider dossiers that do not comply with these requirements.
All materials should be submitted no later than TBD. Announcement to the recipients of these research travel grants will be made in Spring Quarter.
Many of these funds come from endowed accounts, and the Development Office may seek out information about research travel and dissertation preparation if a grant is awarded.
If a student is unable to conduct their research travel as planned, they must inform the Dean of Students Office immediately. In those situations, travel funds may need to be repaid regardless of circumstance or alternative travel plans may need to be arranged with the approval of the Dean of Students Office.
Following completion of their travel, awardees are required to provide a summary (no more than 500 words) focusing on how the travel grant furthered their dissertation research to Sarah Hill at shill26@uchicago.edu.
Anyone traveling as part of the Dissertation Research Travel Grant MUST register with UChicago Traveler prior to departure.
If you have questions about this application process, please email Sarah Hill at shill26@uchicago.edu.
Division of the Arts & Humanities Conference Reimbursement Grant
Application deadline: rolling
The Division of the Arts & Humanities Conference Reimbursement Grant provides up to $400 in reimbursement to doctoral and masters students for eligible travel expenses to present their work at an academic conference.
Eligibility: Doctoral or masters students in the Division of the Arts & Humanities who present a conference paper (or, for MFA students, in an exhibition). Doctoral students may receive the grant a maximum of three times in their graduate careers, but only once in any given academic year (academic years begin in Summer quarter). Master’s students may receive the grant a maximum of one time in their graduate careers.
Eligible expenses:
Airfare (economy or coach only)
Train fare (economy or coach only)
Bus fare
Gas fare (based on mileage)
Car rental
Ground transport to and from airport
All conference grant reimbursements must be supported by adequate documentation, which consists of four parts: receipts, proof of participation (such as a program or letter of invitation), a completed Arts & Humanities Conference Grant Application Form, and a completed Student Certification for Business Related Travel Reimbursement. More detailed instructions, as well as the two forms required, can be found below.
Requests for reimbursement will not be processed until all supporting documentation is received. All application materials should be submitted electronically to ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
Students who receive their reimbursement prior to attending a conference must provide proof of attendance following the conference. This should be submitted to ahd-dos@uchicago.edu, and may include a final conference program or booklet (scanned copy or link) showing conference participation or schedule of events. Pictures or other documentation may also be accepted.
Should your plans change and you do not attend the conference, any funds received prior to the event will need to be paid back to the Division by check or money order. Please contact ahd-dos@uchicago.edu should this occur. Failure to return money from this grant is considered theft and is a University policy violation, which would be addressed by Area Discipline per the Student Manual.
Related Documents:
Student Certification for Business Related Travel Reimbursement
Office of the Bursar
The Office of the Bursar administers student accounts for the University of Chicago. The Bursar also publishes the official University tuition and fee rates. It is important to note that the Bursar does not answer questions about individual student bills or financial aid. Arts & Humanities students should direct inquiries about tuition, fees, and University fellowship aid to ahd-dos@uchicago.edu.
Graduate Financial Aid Office
The Graduate Financial Aid office processes student loans and federal work-study grants for students in the graduate and professional schools (except for medicine and business), conducts entrance and exit loan counseling for all students receiving federal student loans, and disburses loan funds to all students receiving federal student loans. Please direct questions regarding student loans and the federal work-study program to gradfinaid@uchicago.edu.
The Bursar's office will generate a refund check when loan funds that are applied to your tuition account exceed your costs. Loan funds are first applied to your tuition account and any balance of funds is generally available for you to pick up from the Bursar's office by the end of the first week of classes.
Emergency Assistance Programs
Students who need emergency funding should contact the Bursar's office. Emergencies are defined as:
- Unexpected Medical or Health expenses
- Urgent Travel/Transportation Needs
- Temporary Loss of Housing
- Theft of Personal Items
UChicagoGRAD
UChicagoGRAD also provides information and support on the page Financial Management and Wellness.